NLRB-invented “successor bar” blocks employees’ statutory right to vote out union despite 70 percent of workers wanting Teamsters removed

Indianapolis, IN (March 8, 2022) – With free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, Kerry Atkins and his coworkers at the US Brick facility in Mooresville, IN, are fighting a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) order stifling their right to vote out an unpopular union at the plant. Atkins submitted on March 7 a Request for Review, asking the full NLRB in Washington, DC, to overturn the decision and eliminate a non-statutory NLRB doctrine called the “successor bar” that blocks employees’ right to vote out an unwanted union when management changes hands in a workplace.

Atkins filed a petition in December 2021 requesting that the NLRB hold a vote whether to decertify Teamsters Local 135 union officials. NLRB Regional Director Patricia Nachand ruled on February 9 that US Brick’s recent acquisition of the plant triggered the so-called “successor bar” and rendered the employee petition invalid.

The “successor bar” is a non-statutory policy invented by NLRB appointees that immunizes union officials from being voted out by employees for up to a year after management changes as a result of a sale, merger, or acquisition. Employees have a statutory right to hold decertification elections to remove union monopoly “representation” they oppose, but the “successor bar” is found nowhere in the text of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which the NLRB is charged with enforcing. In that statute, the only “bar” to holding a decertification election is if a prior NLRB election was held within the previous year.

According to Atkins’ Request for Review, a Department of Justice antitrust complaint forced the former employer, General Shale, to sell the Mooresville facility before it could complete a transaction with another company. US Brick purchased the Mooresville plant from General Shale in November 2021, and rehired all 33 employees, including Atkins, in the bargaining unit controlled by the Teamsters union.

In addition to Atkins’ submission of the petition for a decertification vote, the NLRB Regional Director’s order mentions that plant management has in its possession a more general petition expressing disaffection with the Teamsters, which bears the signatures of about 70 percent of the employees. Even though the signatures “were verified by the Human Resources Manager against completed I-9 forms,” the Regional Director’s order says “[t]he hearing officer denied questioning and evidence” regarding the disaffection petition.

Atkins’ Request for Review contends that the “successor bar” serves no purpose other than to block the will of rank-and-file employees in favor of entrenching union bosses who ought to be accountable to the employees.

“The successor bar undermines the NLRA’s core purpose of employee free choice by disregarding employees’ actual desires and past experiences with their union representative. It also fails to recognize the Board’s highest calling: to conduct elections when there is a question of representation and to ensure employees are represented by a union of their choosing,” the Request for Review argues.

Foundation staff attorneys have recently aided numerous workers in exercising their right to dispense with union officials they oppose, including by advocating for election policy changes that the NLRB adopted in 2020. The changes prevent union officials from manipulating allegations (also called “blocking charges”) against an employer to stop workers from having a decertification election.

Teamsters union officials in particular have been the target of Foundation-assisted workers who are seeking to shed unions. In just the past year, Rush University maintenance workers in Chicago, Frito-Lay salesmen in Del Rio, TX, Allied Central Coast truckers in Santa Maria, CA, XPO Logistics workers in Cinnaminson, NJ, and Blish-Mize hardware distribution employees in Atchison, KS, all voted to decertify unpopular Teamsters local unions.

“The NLRB-invented ‘successor bar’ is just one example of how the Board neglects its mandate to protect the rights of individual workers, including those opposed to forced union affiliation, just to protect union boss power,” observed National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “The ‘successor bar’ not only overrides the statutory right of workers to vote out unions they oppose, but does so at the very moment when workers are most likely to reevaluate their union status: the turnover of the old management that perhaps was the reason for unionization in the first place.”

“In this case the fundamental injustice of the ‘successor bar’ is compounded by the fact that one arm of the federal government – the Department of Justice – demanded the sale of this facility, which another federal agency – the NLRB – says should be grounds for blocking workers from ejecting a union they overwhelmingly oppose,” Mix continued. “Foundation attorneys will fight for Mr. Atkins and his coworkers until they can exercise their right to eject this unpopular union.”

Reforms backed by National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys make it easier for workers nationwide to boot unions they no longer want

Washington, DC (March 3, 2022) – With free legal representation from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys, employees in Michigan and Arkansas have freed themselves from unwanted union control in their workplaces.

In votes tallied on March 2, LaRon Matlock and his fellow industrial cleaning workers at PowerVac near Detroit, MI, and Cory Smith and his coworkers at chemical company Evonik-Porocel in Little Rock, AR, successfully voted to remove (or “decertify”) International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 324 and Teamsters Local 878 union bosses, respectively.

Foundation staff attorneys provided the workers free representation in exercising their right to hold votes whether to remove the unions. The elections were conducted by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing federal labor law and adjudicating disputes among unions, private sector employers, and individual employees. Matlock and his PowerVac colleagues booted IUOE officials by a whopping 18-3 margin, while Smith and his coworkers at Evonik-Porocel voted 26-5 to remove Teamsters officials.

For more than a year, workers have been enjoying an easier pathway to exercising their right to remove unwanted union officials. The NLRB in Washington, DC, in July 2020 enacted new rules governing decertification elections which, drawing from comments Foundation attorneys submitted to the agency earlier the same year, now forbid union officials and their lawyers from indefinitely stalling worker-requested votes based on so-called “blocking charges.” Such charges are usually allegations against an employer that are unproven and unrelated to workers’ desire to oust union officials, but were filed simply to delay decertification elections.

Matlock and his Detroit-area coworkers’ ouster of IUOE Local 324 officials is particularly notable as officials of the same union local are viciously fighting a Foundation-backed decertification effort from Rieth-Riley Construction Company employee Rayalan Kent and his coworkers. Kent submitted a petition for a decertification election in August 2020 signed by his colleagues, but IUOE officials tried to avert the vote by levying “blocking charges” against the company.

Even though the Foundation-backed “blocking charge” reforms should have rendered IUOE officials’ stall tactics invalid, an NLRB Regional Director nevertheless blocked the vote at IUOE bosses’ behest. While a Foundation-supported appeal to the NLRB in Washington, DC, is pending in Kent’s case, IUOE officials are still imposing a years-long strike order on Rieth-Riley workers. Multiple workers have charged union officials with illegal dues practices and other malfeasance.

Teamsters officials, who were just dismissed by Smith and his colleagues at Evonik-Porocel, have been frequent targets of Foundation-assisted workers in recent months. In just the past year, Rush University maintenance workers in Chicago, Frito-Lay salesmen in Del Rio, TX, Allied Central Coast truckers in Santa Maria, CA, XPO Logistics workers in Cinnaminson, NJ, and Blish-Mize hardware distribution employees in Atchison, KS, all voted, with Foundation legal assistance, to decertify unpopular Teamsters local unions.

The spurt of worker-led decertifications comes as federal government officials, especially Biden-appointed NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, are pushing to give union officials radically increased power to install themselves in workplaces and remain in power even over worker opposition.

Abruzzo revealed in a memo released shortly after assuming office that she would take steps toward eliminating secret-ballot worker votes as the primary method of certifying a union in favor of “card checks.” The “card check” process lets union officials use intimidation and misinformation to get workers to sign “union cards” that supposedly indicate support for a union. The same memo suggested Abruzzo favors overturning, among other Board precedents, a 2019 decision making it easier for workers to escape union ranks when a clear majority opposes unionization.

“The Foundation is proud to help workers across the country, including Mr. Matlock and Mr. Smith, just get a vote on whether union officials deserve to remain in power at their jobs,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Unfortunately, it is increasingly apparent that the Biden NLRB, and in particular GC Abruzzo, have every intention of reducing the rights of independent-minded workers by making it easier for union bosses to add workers to union ranks while limiting workers’ ability to escape them.”

“The NLRB should not neglect its mandate to protect the free choice rights of workers, and Foundation attorneys will always assist workers in resisting union attempts to undermine those rights,” Mix added.

Settlement forces union officials to refund thousands to Savage Services employees, declare they won’t threaten those who refuse union membership

Los Angeles, CA (February 24, 2022) – Long Beach-area Savage Services employee Nelson Medina has won a settlement ordering Teamsters Local 848 union officials to pay back thousands of dollars in illegal dues they seized from about 60 of his coworkers who objected to union membership and to funding the union’s political activity. The settlement, won with free legal aid from National Right to Work Foundation attorneys, was approved by National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 21 on February 14.

Because California lacks Right to Work protections, even private sector workers who oppose a union’s presence in their workplace can be required to pay union dues or fees to keep their jobs. However, under the Foundation-won CWA v. Beck U.S. Supreme Court decision, union officials can never require nonmembers to subsidize union political activity. Right to Work protections in 27 states so far ensure union membership and all union financial support are strictly voluntary.

Medina originally filed charges against Teamsters officials for illegal dues practices back in September 2021. The charges stated that he had sent Teamsters officials a letter on August 15 exercising his right to reject formal union membership. About a month after that letter, the charge noted, union officials informed Savage Services management by mail that if Medina and 12 fellow employees did not complete membership applications and pay full dues for the month of September, the employer should terminate the employees before September’s final week.

Medina’s August 2021 letter also demanded that union officials provide him his legal rights as a nonmember under the Foundation-won Beck Supreme Court decision. In addition to allowing workers to opt-out of funding union politics and other expenditures unrelated to the union’s bargaining functions, Beck also entitles nonmember workers to union financial disclosures.

The settlement, in addition to requiring Teamsters bosses to return nearly $6,000 in illegally taken dues to Savage Services employees, also mandates that union officials post a notice in the workplace. The notice declares that the union “will not fail to provide non-member employees with a breakdown of dues and fees required for Beck objectors upon request,” and that union bosses “will not threaten employees who have raised Beck objections with termination for failing to complete a union application as a condition of employment.”

“That Teamsters Local 848 officials illegally siphoned money for politics from almost 60 Savage Services employees and threatened termination of those who dared to stand up for their rights demonstrates clearly that they prioritize power far above the employees they claim to ‘represent,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Based on the sheer number of employees in Medina’s workplace who are receiving refunds as the result of this settlement, Teamsters officials apparently played fast and loose with the rights of all workers who objected to their agenda.”

“We will continue to stand by Medina in his struggle to ensure that Teamsters bosses’ coercive tricks do not subvert his and his fellow employees’ will and rights,” Mix added.

Last September, Foundation staff attorneys also aided Ventura, CA, Airgas employees in removing Teamsters Local 848 from their facility. After litigation that had lasted almost a year, as well as two submissions of petitions demonstrating a majority of workers at the plant wanted the Teamsters gone, union officials finally departed the plant. They did so just before the NLRB was slated to conduct a vote whether to remove the union at the plant, likely leaving to preempt an embarrassing rejection by the workers.

All but one worker sign petition seeking vote to remove union officials 

BLOOMINGTON, IN (February 16, 2022) – Mechanics and customer service employees at Penske Truck Leasing in Bloomington, Indiana have filed a petition seeking the removal of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local Union No. 135 from their workplace. The workers’ decertification petition was filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 25 office in Indianapolis, Indiana with free legal representation from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys.

Penske Truck Leasing employee Steven Stuttle filed the decertification petition for his coworkers who want to oust the unpopular union. Thirty percent of workers’ signatures are needed to trigger a NLRB-conducted secret ballot vote to remove the union. This request was signed by all but one of the workers in the bargaining unit.

Indiana is a Right to Work state, meaning workers cannot legally be required to join or pay money to a union as a condition of keeping their jobs. However, federal law permits workers to be forced under one-size-fits-all union monopoly “representation,” even nonmembers opposed to the union. If the workers’ decertification effort is successful, Teamsters union officials will be stripped of their monopoly “representation” powers.

National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys have recently assisted workers in numerous successful decertification efforts across the nation, including for workers in Oklahoma, Illinois, and Delaware. Foundation-backed reforms to the rules for decertification elections that the NLRB adopted in 2020 have curtailed union officials’ abuse of so-called “blocking charges” to delay or block workers from exercising their right to decertify a union. Such charges are often based on unproven allegations made against an employer, completely unrelated to workers’ desire to free themselves of the union.

“If Teamsters union officials don’t take a hint and leave, the NLRB must promptly schedule a vote and allow Penske Truck Leasing employees to exercise their right to remove unwanted union officials,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “These workers are sending an overwhelming message that the Teamsters bosses are not Penske material.”

SEIU officials spin phony narrative about Village of Carpentersville officials to get state labor board to block employee election to remove union

Chicago, IL (February 11, 2022) – Village of Carpentersville firefighter Nick Salzmann is appealing an order by the executive director of the Illinois Labor Relations Board (ILRB) that blocks his and his coworkers’ right to remove unwanted union officials from their workplace. Salzmann, who filed a petition signed by his coworkers asking the ILRB to administer a vote among his colleagues whether to boot out Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 73 bosses, is receiving free legal aid from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation attorneys.

The ILRB is the Illinois state agency responsible for adjudicating workplace disputes among union officials, Illinois government agencies, and Illinois public employees. SEIU union officials filed so-called “blocking charges” in an attempt to stop the employee-requested vote, arguing that various allegations they are making against Carpentersville government officials should block Salzmann and his colleagues’ effort to oust the union.

While the ILRB executive director delayed the election at the union bosses’ behest, Salzmann’s appeal exposes numerous errors with the basis for that decision and uncovers an ongoing campaign by union officials to stop the decertification attempt.

Salzmann’s appeal brief reveals that, even though SEIU union lawyers convinced the ILRB that Carpentersville officials were not following proper bargaining procedures, in reality “the Union walked from the bargaining table twice.” Furthermore, the brief maintains that “the union walked away from the bargaining table twice when the Employer could not guarantee that the decertification process would not proceed,” a sign that SEIU bosses wanted Carpentersville officials to assist the union in quashing the employee-led decertification effort. According to the brief, approximately 80% of the firefighters favor decertifying the union.

The brief also states that “the Union amended the charges, changing from an ‘impacts and effect’ charge to a ‘failure to bargain’ charge,” a strong suggestion that union lawyers can’t demonstrate any connection between Salzmann and his coworkers’ desire to eliminate the union and anything Carpentersville officials did.

Finally, Salzmann’s brief contends that the SEIU bosses’ actions disturbed the “laboratory conditions” that should be present for any decertification election. It states that the “Union’s efforts to compel [the firefighters] to abandon their claim, including telling them they had proceeded improperly in their effort,” along with the union bosses’ willful departures from the bargaining table “caused the factual scenario” that led to the union’s charge.

“Despite the clearly misguided ILRB Executive Director’s order blocking the election, evidence is rapidly emerging about the tall tale SEIU bosses spun to avoid facing a vote of the rank-and-file workers they claim to ‘represent,’” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “That union officials created the very circumstances that they are decrying in their so-called ‘blocking charges’ against Carpentersville officials is ridiculous. But the real injustice is that the ILRB is allowing union officials to abuse the process to stifle the will of the overwhelming majority of these firefighters, who support decertifying the union.”

Elsewhere in Illinois, Foundation staff attorneys are aiding Galesburg paramedics and EMTs in their effort to decertify an unwanted Teamsters union in their workplace. If successful, the effort would be the latest of several efficacious Foundation-backed employee removals of Teamsters officials in the past year.

Federal law gives rank-and-file workers the right to vote to free themselves from unwanted union “representation”

WHITE PLAINS, NY (February 10, 2022) – Healthcare workers at the White Plains Hospital in White Plains, New York have filed a petition seeking the removal of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1199 union from their workplace. The workers’ decertification petition was filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 2 office in New York, NY with free legal representation from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys.

White Plains Hospital Certified Surgical Technologist Yanilda Robinson filed the decertification petition for her coworkers who want to oust the unpopular union. The request seeking to end SEIU union officials’ monopoly bargaining powers at White Plains Hospital was signed by enough workers in the bargaining unit to trigger a NLRB-conducted secret ballot vote to remove the union.

New York is not a Right to Work state, meaning workers can legally be required to join or pay dues/ fees to a union as a condition of keeping their jobs. If the workers’ vote is successful, SEIU union officials will be stripped of their monopoly “representation” powers.

National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys have recently assisted workers in numerous successful decertification efforts across the nation, including for workers in Kansas, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Delaware. Reforms to the rules for decertification elections that the NLRB adopted in 2020 have curtailed union officials’ abuse of so-called “blocking charges” to delay or block workers from exercising their right to decertify a union. Such charges are often based on unproven allegations made against an employer, often completely unrelated to workers’ desire to free themselves of the union.

“These healthcare workers have bravely worked over the past two years under exceptionally challenging circumstances. We should honor that devotion by respecting their right to remove an unwanted union from their workplace,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “We hope the NLRB will promptly schedule a vote and not allow SEIU officials to engage in legal trickery to delay the decertification election these hospital workers have requested.”